World champion figure skater Sasha Cohen and Major League baseball star Kevin Youkilis are among six elected to the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame for 2019.
Also receiving honors are: 1936 and 1937 World table tennis singles champion Ruth Aarons; 1950s British auto racing champion Sheliah Van Damm; and Canadian ice hockey pioneer Ben Hatskin.
Roy Salomon, long-time Canadian Maccabiah Games organizing icon, is recipient of the IJSHOF’s annual Lifetime Achievement Award.
Jewish 16-year old Aarons stunned the table tennis world when she captured the 1936 World championship in Berlin, then duplicated the victory the following year.
Three-time American League all-star Youkilis was a nine season offense and defensive force with the Boston Red Sox.
Great Britain’s Sheliah Van Damm won 58 major European auto races during the 1950s.
Salomon, Canada’s “Mr. Maccabi”, is recognized as a Maccabiah Games organizing and management pioneer, originally as an athlete, plus four decades as an international leader.
Election results are announced jointly by IJSHOF chairmen, Alan Sherman (Potomac, MD), and R. Stephen Rubin (London).
The IJSHOF Museum, is located on the campus of Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sport, Netanya, Israel.
